Teen cop impersonator arrested again

January 22, 2010

A 15-year-old boy who made national headlines last year for impersonating a Chicago police officer has been arrested again, this time for shoving his mother during an argument after he allegedly stole a relative's car, authorities said.

On Thursday, he was ordered held in youth custody by Cook County Juvenile Court Judge Andrew Berman and charged as a juvenile with domestic battery, aggravated battery in a public way and possession of a stolen motor vehicle, said Sally Daly, a spokeswoman for the Cook County state's attorney's office.

The teen, whose name was not being released because he is a juvenile, was seen by police outdoors near West 79th Street and South Vincennes Avenue Wednesday night shoving his mother during an argument about the stolen car, police said. Daly said police then learned he took the car, a Cadillac, earlier in the day without the other relative's permission.

The teen was then taken into custody.

He will remain in custody until at least Monday, when his next court date is scheduled on the current charges.

In January 2009, the boy received national media attention when he was arrested for masquerading as a Chicago cop. The boy, then 14, showed up at the Grand Crossing (3rd) District station in uniform and rode the streets with an officer.

Seven Chicago police officers were blamed as a result. A City Council committee also grilled Supt. Jody Weis about how the boy got into the station and passed himself off as an officer.

When reporters last March asked Weis how the teen's incomplete uniform, without a star or gun, was missed by so many officers, he said: "I don't know. They weren't paying attention perhaps. Maybe they were lax."

Weis also said the teen likely learned the lingo of the department from once belonging to the department's "explorer's program," run by department's Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS) program that facilitates interaction between youths and police officers. The boy was part of the explorer program in 2008 in the Englewood (7th) District.

Last May, he was arrested again for posing as a buyer at a South Side car dealership and led police on a chase with a luxury car.

The boy was sentenced in Cook County Juvenile Court last July to 3 years probation and one month of home confinement for the two cases. But he has since finished serving nearly four months in youth custody after violating his home confinement.

Upon his release from custody in December, Berman warned the teen to follow the rules of his probation and stay out of trouble."Surprise me," Berman told the teen at the time. "Make me not see you for a while."